


In A Crowd of Thousands

by articulatememe



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Amnesia, Anastasia AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mandalorian!Cody, Prince!Obi-Wan, idk what this is but i needed to write it, ill add more tags later lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28176207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/articulatememe/pseuds/articulatememe
Summary: Ben had grown up daydreaming of leaving, of getting as far away from Stewjon as possible so that he could finally begin to track down the family he so desperately craved, so when he meets two brothers that tell him they are willing to take him where he wants to go in exchange for a favour, he says yes.-After losing a bet, Cody and Rex get stuck with a bounty on a man that had been declared dead over a decade before. Stuck on a backwater planet without a bounty to bring back to Mandalore, they turn to a man who is just as desparate to leave the planet as they are.
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Comments: 13
Kudos: 119





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> so uhh its been a while...
> 
> im like hella sick right now so hopefully i dont regret posting this once my fever goes down lol
> 
> anyways i've had this idea for a couple months now and i never ended up getting around to finishing this fic, but now ive got a good chunk of it written so i feel like now is as good a time as any to post this!
> 
> my writing is a little rusty bc again, its been a while, but hopefully yall enjoy this!
> 
> im like hella sick right now so hopefully i dont regret posting this once my fever goes down lol
> 
> thanks for reading!

_Winter time in Stewjon has always been beautiful. Just cold enough to snow, but not too cold where it would be impossible for one to go outside and enjoy it. The snow would fall, and it wouldn’t stop falling until it piled by the inches._

_It had always been his favourite time of the year, winter. So much so that he would often spend his summers waiting for the hot weather to end so the snow would fall again, and then on the first snow of the year he would run outside with his brothers, his father trailing behind them and watching the children play until their cheeks were bright red and their clothes were damp._

_The war hadn’t reached their planet yet, thankfully. Stewjon had chosen to remain neutral, and neither the CIS nor the Republic had come knocking on their door asking for their allegiance._

_It wouldn’t be long, his father had said, until they came and invaded. It was just a matter of time, but when the time came, they would be ready. They would fight back and they would not let their planet be overtaken by war._

_It had been a passing conversation, one that Obi-Wan simply forgot about soon after. He was a child, after all, he didn’t really understand that a planet with little to no allies was nowhere near prepared for a large-scale invasion. All he knew about the war were snippets of things he saw on the holo news, and he’d never really realized just how much information they omitted of how horrible the war had been to other planets until it was too late._

_He didn’t understand that his father’s pacifism and desire to shelter their planet from the war would be their downfall. That they should have allied themselves to the republic when they had the chance._

_Maybe then things would have ended up differently._

_It was the first snow of the year, and Obi-Wan was running, bare feet sinking soundlessly into the snow as he ran faster than he’d ever run before. It was so cold, most of the snow had frozen and hardened the moment it touched the ground._

_He couldn’t feel anything, even as jagged bits of ice cut into his feet, leaving droplets of blood behind to be quickly covered by the snowfall. No, Obi-Wan hadn’t felt anything but grief and fear since he’d escaped._

_He was a long way away now, and yet he could still hear the blaster shots ringing in the distance, still hear the screaming– and he knew that if he closed his eyes, he would be able to see the blaster pointed at him clear as day._

_He began to slow down, breath coming out in short pants as his vision began to blur. He could barely feel anything now, his entire body having gone numb from the cold._

_Though the cold bit against his skin, it was still the furthest thing from his mind. All he could think about was his family. How he’d abandoned them, how he’d heard his father’s orders to run and thought he would be right behind him._

_And he knew. He knew that there was nothing else he could do. Everyone had tried to run, and he hadn’t really expected to be the only one to have survived… not really. In the end though, he found himself alone and shivering, in the middle of nowhere where he would probably meet a cold, painful death and freeze._

_He felt like he’d be better off dead, anyways. At least then, he would be with his family again. At least then he wouldn’t have felt like he did at that moment, cold and exhausted, and like the entire weight of the world was on his shoulders._

_He collapsed, head slamming against something so hard it made his ears ring. Darkness clouded his vision, blurring everything around him until his eyelids eventually slid closed._

_Obi-Wan’s last thoughts were of his father._

* * *

Twelve year old Ben had been found a little ways off the road, curled up against a tree and coated by a thin layer of snow, ginger hair matted and bloody, his small body nearly frozen solid. It was a miracle he was still alive. 

He’d been on the brink of death- he remembered that, at least, waking up in a hospital with a healer at his bedside, telling him exactly that. That his injuries were so severe they matched the injuries of someone who’d been in a speeder crash.I t wasn’t a thing a 12 year old should ever hear, but then again, Ben had been in a position that an average child should have never ever been in. He’d been scared, covered in scrapes and bruises that he didn’t remember getting. He didn’t know where he was- w _ho_ he was, and despite being surrounded by healers, he had felt completely and utterly alone.

No one had been too surprised at the child’s lack of recognition. He did have a pretty bad concussion when he’d been picked up, not to mention the rest of his injuries, some of which seemed like they had been there for weeks. They expected the amnesia to go away with time. There was no permanent brain damage, so there was no reason for his memories to _not_ come back.

It was only temporary, they had said. Whatever had landed him on the side of the road in the middle of a snowstorm was the cause of it, and once he was ready to confront those memories, the mental block he’d put up as a child would crumble away and he would finally remember who he’d been. 

What a load of bullshit that was.

Years had passed since he'd been found, and he was about as close to getting those memories back as he had been all those years ago. Unfortunately, Ben thought bitterly, and not at all surprising, ptsd worked in ways that even the healers couldn’t predict, and the memories simply… ceased to exist.

Ben had grown up daydreaming of when that day would come, when he would finally know enough to be able to track down his family and ask _why._ Why had they left him alone, why no one had come looking for him. All he had left from his family was a kyber crystal, green and warm, found hanging on a black cord around his neck all those years ago.

And while he knew it was almost impossible now with all the time that had passed, he still held on to hope that maybe someday, he would be with his family again.


	2. Ben

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had more to add towards the end but it didn't feel like it fit and it was also like the length of an entire chapter in itself here's just some more ✨build up✨
> 
> chapter three is like almost done so uhh expect cody and rex soon 👉👉

Ben left as soon as he turned 17. The orphanage had been his home for as long as he could remember, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was something else for him out there. He'd wanted more, and he’d found that in the small community that made up the capital city of Stewjon.

He'd managed to find an apartment near the town square to rent and ended up moving in with two other people. It was quite large, and there was absolutely no way any of them could afford something like that on their own, so they had all decided to take the plunge and live with complete strangers for the luxury that was an apartment in the middle of the city.

He’d been reserved at first- he’d never left the orphanage, never been on his own before like this, so he’d resorted to keeping to himself. 

Ben would only leave his room when it was absolutely necessary, if he had to go to work or when he was sure no one was home- going from being completely alone to living with two complete strangers was a big change, and their personalities clashed, but against all odds, they grew close.

Quinlan and Siri had had no idea about where he came from, about what his past had been like. It went the same both ways, of course. Ben could count the amount of things he knew about both of his roommates in one hand, and he’d still have fingers left over. 

With time, they got to know each other. As it turned out, the three of them weren’t that different after all. They were all alone, having lost their parents young, with no family left to take care of them, and while they seldom spoke about it, their harsh childhoods had only brought them closer.

They quickly became friends, and it was all thanks to Quinlan (though he would never tell  _ him _ that). He’d brought Ben and Siri out of their shells, dragging them on just about every single ridiculous errand he could come up with, and this went on until Ben just started tagging along without being asked. Siri had soon followed, and then it became their thing. Every time one of them made plans, the other two would be invited. That’s just how it was now. They were a set that couldn’t be separated, and in a weird sort of way, Quin was the glue that kept their friend group together.

Ben would never admit it, but he knew he wouldn’t be where he is today if it weren’t for them.

5 years later, and the three were close enough now that they considered each other family. They still lived in the same rundown apartment with rent that was too high and neighbours that were too loud, but they were comfortable there.

They all worked pretty much full time now, so it was a bit harder to see each other than it had been when they were younger. Siri had gone through more jobs than he could remember. She’d been working at a library for a couple months now, but it was only a matter of time until she got bored and decided she wanted to see what else Stewjon could offer.

Quinlan was… Quinlan. He did odd jobs here and there, sometimes disappearing for weeks at a time and showing up looking a little worse for wear and covered in suspicious looking scrapes and bruises. 

Ben had briefly landed on Bounty Hunter last time he and Siri tried to guess what Quinlan’s job was, but discarded the idea once he remembered just how loud the man could be when he tried to sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night. Quinlan Vos and stealth were things that did not fit together.

As for Ben, he still had the same job he’d gotten when he first moved into the city. He’d hated it at first- working at a cantina in the capital city of a planet that was getting pretty popular with smugglers and bounty hunters was not the most glamorous of jobs, but he’d grown to like it.

He loved seeing the different people that would come, all with different backgrounds and stories to tell. Ben’s favourite customers were pilots. If you were willing to listen, they would tell stories about their travels across the galaxy, speaking of things Ben could only dream of seeing.

When he was daydreaming, he would think up scenarios about asking one of them to take him along. Sure, he loved the planet, and there was a false sense of normalcy in the city that everything was fine, but he couldn’t ignore the distant shots and explosions- he couldn’t ignore the battle droids that would roam the streets after dark, making sure no one was speaking ill of the CIS. 

Ben wanted to leave so badly, but he would never ask, because somewhere deep inside of him he still believed that his family would find him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be honest this took me like a really long time to post because ive been super busy and i havent really been liking my writing much as of late, but i have decided that ill need to just deal with the fact that everything cant be perfect because if i try and strive for perfection then nothing will get done!
> 
> i have a lot more written finally, so im hoping to update as soon as i can find a good ending for the next chapter so look forward to that! there'll be actual dialogue this time lol
> 
> anyways thank you for making it this far! please leave comments and kudos and all the things lol
> 
> constructive criticism is appreciated too, if u wanna do that :) im always looking for ways to improve!
> 
> -
> 
> also, if you wanna see more from me feel free to add me on twitter [@codyskenobi](https://twitter.com/codyskenobi) or join the [codywan server](https://discord.gg/JC4JXNhP) and we can cry over our faves on there!

**Author's Note:**

> woah u made it to the very end!
> 
> thank you so much for supporting me, and please leave comments and kudos and all the things lol
> 
> constructive criticism is appreciated too, if u wanna do that :) im always looking for ways to improve!
> 
> -
> 
> also, if you wanna see more from me feel free to add me on twitter [@codyskenobi](https://twitter.com/codyskenobi) or join the [codywan server](https://discord.gg/JC4JXNhP) and we can cry over our faves on there!


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